Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables.

These are the very first sentences of the introduction to Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. The rest of the book is spent supporting those seemingly simple sentences.

I am only about a third of the way into the book, however, it is clear that Pollan speaks nothing but common sense about food, the way we view it, and how we need to stop viewing mainly it as a nutrition delivery system.

Saveur has an interview with him on their website which gives a sense of what he is communicating in the book. I highly recommend you go read it if you are interested in how Americans eat ... or simply how you eat. Here's a nibble ...

This seems an odd time in which to offer a defense of food, since if you open a newspaper or turn on the TV you'd think we were in the midst of an explosion of popular interest in chefs and cooking. Why do you believe food needs defending?

The way I see it, food is under attack from two corners. One is the food industry, which is busy turning perfectly good food into abhorrent, complicated products. The example I cite in the book is "whole wheat white bread", which is a new, 40-ingredient monstrosity, designed by Sara Lee and some other companies, that has all the tactile pleasures of Wonder bread and "whole grain goodness", too. Real bread needs to be defended from imitations like that.

Food is also under attack from nutritionists and a nutritional–industrial complex that encourages us to look at it strictly as a conveyance of nutrients and which elevates the question of health above all others. To ask only Is this good for your body? Is this going to make you live longer? Is this going to help prevent heart disease? is a very limited and even counterproductive way of looking at food. So while, yes, food certainly has supporters right now, they're a pretty elite group. The attack, on the other hand, is widespread and includes just about everything going on at the average supermarket.

Calloo, Callay, O Frabjous Day ...

I'm smiling because...

• Tom's mom gave me a Borders gift certificate for Christmas and they've got a whole bunch of the Culinaria books on sale for $10 each. In a way this makes one think of an updating of the Time Life Foods of the World series (reviewed here) although these are done with less of each writer's personality and more continuity between volumes. These books look at the cuisines of countries in depth. When I say "in depth" think about 450 pages, oversized, covering every aspect of culture that relates to food. In short, a foodie's dream. Until now only the hardbacks have been available and they are huge. I mean to say, you don't want to fall asleep reading one because you'd be crushed to death when it fell on you. Sadly, I heard that the original company went out of business but that means the series was picked up by another printer and is being republished in paperback. It is still high quality printing on heavy paper and still huge but at least you can read it on bed without being injured.

Book reports

1. The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson *** ... you will believe that sushi can be interesting! Which I wouldn't have before hearing a Barnes and Noble podcast interviewing this author ... so I got it from the library. A thoroughly entertaining read that shows not only the history of sushi but takes us through a sushi chef class with all the students. Very good indeed.


2. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones**** ... much like Julia Child's "My Life in France" (reviewed here) this is a nostalgic journey in the way America cooked from the past to present. Judith Jones is the famous Knopf editor whose love of food and cooking allowed her to sniff out such great food writers as Julia Child, James Beard, Marion Cunningham, Irene Kuo, Marcella Hazen and many more. Not only is this a wonderful look at Jones' life and the foodways of America, but her thinking on food is quite firmly stated ... and delightfully sane and common-sensical it is. Highly recommended.

A partial cross-posting from Happy Catholic. More reasons to smile and more book reports may be found here.

Creamy Garlic Dressing

I believe I got this from the Cook's Illustrated Family Cookbook which I checked out of the library a while back. It was served over a salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, crumbled bacon, and diced avocadoes. Mmmmmmmm. Of course it also works on any less carefully constructed salad that you have thrown together with whatever happens to be in the fridge also.

3/4 c. olive oil
6 tablespoons sour cream or mayonnaise
3 tablespoons lemons juice
4 teaspoons Dijon
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Whisk all together. Makes 1-1/2 cups dressing.

Cheesecake Bombs

It really isn't fair to start off the New Year with a recipe like this is it? Unless your goal is deliciousness!

This comes from The Anchoress who was good enough to share it a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to try it but I have a movie night group meeting in a couple of weeks and I think I know just what would be perfect to make ahead and take! Thanks Anchoress!

1 pound cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whipping cream
Tiniest pinch salt

12 ounces chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line an 8x8 or 9x9-inch pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place pan on prepared baking sheet.

2. Mix Cheesecake Batter ingredients until smooth. Pour into pan. Bake until set, about 30 minutes. Cool well in fridge. Cut into small squares (24 to 32). Place squares on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and freeze 1 to 2 hours.

3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate.

4. To finish Cheesecake Bombs, using a fork to assist, dip and turn each frozen cheesecake portion in chocolate. Let set on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Freeze briefly to set and then place in confectionery paper holders, if desired. Seal in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Serve frozen or thaw slightly and serve chilled.

I See the Government is Determined to Get Me to Buy Organic

FDA Is Set To Approve Milk, Meat From Clones

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

The decision, expected by the end of this year, is based largely on new data indicating that milk and meat from cloned livestock and their offspring pose no unique risks to consumers.

"Our evaluation is that the food from cloned animals is as safe as the food we eat every day," said Stephen F. Sundlof, the FDA's chief of veterinary medicine, who has overseen the long-stalled risk assessment.

Read the whole story at the Washington Post

How about this?

We already have a way to produce animals and milk. Don't need that cloned stuff. Now, if I lived on Mars, which admittedly has very little to offer in the way of farmland, that would be different. But this is wrong on just so many levels. Not just the ethical and moral issues they mention further on in the story but from the sheer standpoint of how to view food in general.

I already buy organic milk, thanks to the Bovine Growth Hormone.

I buy eggs from free range chickens, thanks to the fact that I don't want chickens to be stuck in teeny, tiny little boxes as nothing more than egg machines. Ditto with free range chicken purchased for the same reason.

I am now reduced to so little trust in the government's decision making abilities about our food that I am considering gardening. That is how upset I am. Gardening. Which I loathe and detest. (Yes, I know that gardening is a beautiful thing. But I still don't enjoy it.)

Now, I am going to go soothe my nerves by reading The Slow Cook who has both gardens and cooks ... and who would understand why I'm so darned upset.

What the World Eats

Dom Bettinelli points out this photo essay, What the World Eats.

On some levels it is what we would expect with many packaged foods from the Westernized countries. On the other hand, I was stunned to see that a German family spends $500 per week to feed 4 people. Now what would this have been if a French family had been shown I wonder? I always am told that they spend on food the discretionary income equivalent to what Americans spend on technology. I have to say that I am now feeling better about my weekly grocery store bill as it generally is below the American ones I saw and I always thought it was pretty high.

Joyful Anticipation of the Coming Celebration

Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit's wife, dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap, and make a goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daughters, also brave in ribbons; while Master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his son and heir in honor of the day) into his mouth, rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable Parks. And now the two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelled the goose, and known it for their own; and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage in onion, these young Cratchits danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes, bubbling up, knocked loudly at the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Omelettes Made in a Ziploc? That Just Ain't Right.

It's funny ... and weird ... and kind of intriguing. A homemade boil-in-bag breakfast. Men in Aprons have the instructions if you want to give it a try.

This really seems perfect for guys. It combines a science experiment with breakfast.

My secret informant, Siggy, confides that he has tried it and "it works great!"

Crunch

This is a homemade Toffee-Popcorn-Nut recipe that my parents made without fail for every Christmas.

Me?

Well ... Dallas is so much more humid and I run out of time and ... ok, look, I'm not going to lie, especially with Santa checking that list. It's just that I will always put the other recipes first and by the time that I am nerved to deal with molten hot sugar, Christmas is upon us and we have more cookies than we can ever eat. "Why make more sweets?" I tell myself.

Also, truth be told, the humid weather does have something to do with it as well. I want it crunchy and chewy ... not soft and sticky. That ain't easy to achieve unless the Crunch is made only a day or two before Christmas, just when the time crunch really takes hold on my schedule.

Now that I have all that avoidance out of the way, I have to say that this is the popcorn that ruined me for any other toffee popcorn experience. Seriously. Nothing else stands up to that chewy, buttery, crunchy combination.

You know, this year I actually may make it. I can't stand to think of the girls never having this delicious stuff. Yep. I'm doing it for the girls. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Crunch

Step 1:
2 quarts popped corn
1-1/3 cups pecans
2/3 cup almonds
Mix popped corn and nuts on a jelly roll sheet (cookie sheet with edges).

Step 2:
1-1/3 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Combine in a 1½ quart pan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes or until mixture turns a light caramel color.

Step 3:
1 teaspoon vanilla
Remove caramel from heat, mix in vanilla and pour over corn and nut mix. Stir to coat well; spread out to dry. Break apart and store in tightly covered container. Makes about 2 pounds.

I Don't Know About The Tom-inator, But ...

... I have no doubt that the rest of this is the best barbecue in Atlanta. Our co-worker Chris's brothers run it and he's given us some of their ribs as a Christmas gift before. Mmmm, mmm, good! As this Fox News guy attests to.

Fine Art Friday

Red Wine by Qiang Huang,
the featured artist in today's Fine Art Festival.